Inset grip-configured drop-reducing drinking apparatus

ABSTRACT

An inset grip-configured, drop-reducing, drinking apparatus, including a mug having an exterior surface and interior surface, a hand-configured depression in said mug, said depression including extension for fingers and thumb portions into interior of said mug, fitting the palm and fingers of the user, and wherein the exterior surface of said mug covers the finger and thumb portions of said hand-configured depression. An inset grip-configured drop-reducing drinking apparatus, including a mug impressed with a hand-configured depression contoured to substantially match the natural gripping shape of a hand. A user&#39;s hand can be partially enclosed within the sidewall of a mug when gripping the mug. The partial enclosure can constitute pockets for receiving the fingers and thumb of a user, said pockets extending into the interior space of the mug. A mug having bottom and surrounding sidewalls, defining an interior volume, first and second opposing pockets formed through the sidewall and extending into the interior volume, said first pocket shaped for a thumb and said second pocket shaped for four fingers.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to easy grip, drop-reducinggrip-configured drinking cups and mugs.

BACKGROUND

Coffee and liquid drinking is ubiquitous. Mugs are a part of every daylife, in every household, in every business. Many consumers have afavorite mug from which they enjoy their morning coffee, afternoon tea,or weekend beer. Children are especially fond of the idea of having apersonal cup for beverage drinking. Having friends over to watch thegame or enjoy an evening coffee often calls for the use of severaldrinking mugs. Without personalization, these cups can become mixed up.Consumers are constantly searching for a more reliable way to keep trackof their mug. Most mugs are larger than hand sized, so that the handdoes not easily wrap around a coffee mug. Handles are typically smallerthan palm sized and so they rest on the fingers or thumb. Wrapping ahand around a coffee cup, or handling a handle in the fingers or thumb,frequently leads to droppage and spillage. A mug is needed thatcomfortably allows gripping a mug without resting uncomfortably onnarrow portions of the fingers and thumb, and which reduces the dropfrequency.

SUMMARY AND ADVANTAGES

An inset grip-configured, drop-reducing, drinking apparatus includes amug having an exterior surface and interior surface, a hand-configureddepression in said mug, said depression including extension for fingersand thumb portions into interior of said mug, fitting the palm andfingers of the user, and wherein the exterior surface of said mug coversthe finger and thumb portions of said hand-configured depression. Aninset grip-configured drop-reducing drinking apparatus includes a mugimpressed with a hand-configured depression contoured to substantiallymatch the natural gripping shape of a hand. A user's hand can bepartially enclosed within the sidewall of a mug when gripping the mug.The partial enclosure can constitute pockets for receiving the fingersand thumb of a user, said pockets extending into the interior space ofthe mug. A mug having bottom and surrounding sidewalls, defining aninterior volume, first and second opposing pockets formed through thesidewall and extending into the interior volume, said first pocketshaped for a thumb and said second pocket shaped for four fingers.

The inset grip-configured drop-reducing drinking apparatus of thepresent invention presents numerous advantages, including: (1) provideusers with a mug that is easy to handle and fun to use; (2) provides adecorative enhancement while also making the mug easier to hold and use;(3) provides a new vehicle for personalization, such as male or femalegrips, child or adult, right or left, human, animal or fantasy; (4)inset grip enable a user to hold the mug more comfortably; and (5)reduces droppage and breakage of coffee cups and mugs. Additionaladvantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the descriptionwhich follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or maybe learned by practice of the invention. The advantages of the inventionmay be realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities andcombinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims. Furtherbenefits and advantages of the embodiments of the invention will becomeapparent from consideration of the following detailed description givenwith reference to the accompanying drawings, which specify and showpreferred embodiments of the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated into and constitute apart of this specification, illustrate one or more embodiments of thepresent invention and, together with the detailed description, serve toexplain the principles and implementations of the invention.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of Applicant's inset grip-configureddrop-reducing drinking apparatus.

FIG. 2 shows a top down view of the inside of Applicant's insetgrip-configured drop-reducing drinking apparatus.

FIG. 3 shows a second embodiment of Applicant's inset grip-configureddrop-reducing drinking apparatus.

FIG. 4 shows a top down view of the inside of the second embodiment ofApplicant's inset grip-configured drop-reducing drinking apparatus.

FIG. 5 shows a third embodiment of Applicant's inset grip-configureddrop-reducing drinking apparatus.

FIG. 6 shows a top down view of the inside of the third embodiment ofApplicant's inset grip-configured drop-reducing drinking apparatus.

REFERENCE NUMBERS USED IN DRAWINGS

Turning now descriptively to the drawings, in which similar referencecharacters denote similar elements throughout the several views, thefigures illustrate the inset grip-configured drop-reducing drinkingapparatus of the present invention. With regard to the referencenumerals used, the following numbering is used throughout the variousdrawing figures:

10 Mug

12 Exterior surface

14 Interior surface

16 Hand configured depression

18 Thumb portion

20 Finger portion

110 Mug of second embodiment

112 Exterior surface of second embodiment

114 Interior surface of second embodiment

116 Hand configured depression of second embodiment

118 Thumb portion of second embodiment

120 Finger portion of second embodiment

210 Mug of third embodiment

212 Exterior surface of third embodiment

214 Interior surface of third embodiment

218 Thumb portion of third embodiment

220 Finger portion of third embodiment

I Interior of mug

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Before beginning a detailed description of the subject invention,mention of the following is in order. When appropriate, like referencematerials and characters are used to designate identical, corresponding,or similar components in differing figure drawings. The figure drawingsassociated with this disclosure typically are not drawn with dimensionalaccuracy to scale, i.e., such drawings have been drafted with a focus onclarity of viewing and understanding rather than dimensional accuracy.

In the interest of clarity, not all of the routine features of theimplementations described herein are shown and described. It will, ofcourse, be appreciated that in the development of any such actualimplementation, numerous implementation-specific decisions must be madein order to achieve the developer's specific goals, such as compliancewith application- and business-related constraints, and that thesespecific goals will vary from one implementation to another and from onedeveloper to another. Moreover, it will be appreciated that such adevelopment effort might be complex and time-consuming, but wouldnevertheless be a routine undertaking of engineering for those ofordinary skill in the art having the benefit of this disclosure.

An inset grip-configured, drop-reducing, drinking apparatus includes amug having an exterior surface and interior surface, a hand-configureddepression in said mug, said depression including extension for fingersand thumb portions into interior of said mug, fitting the palm andfingers of the user, and wherein the exterior surface of said mug coversthe finger and thumb portions of said hand-configured depression. Aninset grip-configured drop-reducing drinking apparatus includes a mugimpressed with a hand-configured depression contoured to substantiallymatch the natural gripping shape of a hand. A user's hand can bepartially enclosed within the sidewall of a mug when gripping the mug.The partial enclosure can constitute pockets for receiving the fingersand thumb of a user, said pockets extending into the interior space ofthe mug. A mug having bottom and surrounding sidewalls, defining aninterior volume, first and second opposing pockets formed through thesidewall and extending into the interior volume, said first pocketshaped for a thumb and said second pocket shaped for four fingers.

As shown in FIGS. 1-2, an inset grip-configured drop-reducing drinkingapparatus is provided and includes a mug 10 having an exterior surface12 and interior surface 14, and a hand-configured depression 16 in saidmug, said depression including extension for thumb and finger portions18 and 20, respectively, into interior of said mug, fitting the palm andfingers of the user. The exterior surface 12 preferably covers the thumband finger portions 18, 20 of said hand-configured depression 16. Thehand-configured depression 16 can be sized to suit male and female usersof any age. The hand-configured depression can represent the user asright- or left-handed. The hand-configured depression can be sized andconfigured for hands of humans, animals (or paw or hoof configured), or,for novelty, for fantasy creatures (claw configured). The insetgrip-configured drop-reducing drinking apparatus can be ceramic, glass,plastic or other suitable and well known cup and mug materials.

As shown in FIGS. 3-4, a second embodiment of an inset grip-configureddrop-reducing drinking apparatus is provided and includes a mug 110having an exterior surface 112 and interior surface 114, and ahand-configured depression 116 in said mug, said depression includingextension for thumb and finger portions 118 and 120, respectively,fitting the palm and fingers of the user. The hand-configured depression116 can be sized to suit male and female users of any age. Thehand-configured depression can represent the user as right- orleft-handed. The hand-configured depression can be sized and configuredfor hands of humans, animals (or paw or hoof configured), or, fornovelty, for fantasy creatures (claw configured). The insetgrip-configured drop-reducing drinking apparatus can be ceramic, glass,or other suitable and well known cup and mug materials.

As shown in FIGS. 5-6, a third embodiment of an inset grip-configureddrop-reducing drinking apparatus is provided and includes a mug 210having an exterior surface 212 and interior surface 214, and a partialhand-configured depression in said mug for thumb and finger pockets 218and 220, respectively, into interior of said mug. The exterior surface212 preferably covers the thumb and finger pockets 218, 220. Thehand-configured depression thumb and finger pockets 218, 220, can besized to suit male and female users of any age. The hand-configureddepression can represent the user as right- or left-handed. Thehand-configured depression can be sized and configured for hands ofhumans, animals (or paw or hoof configured), or, for novelty, forfantasy creatures (claw configured). The inset grip-configureddrop-reducing drinking apparatus can be ceramic, glass, or othersuitable and well known cup and mug materials.

In operation in one embodiment, the user places his or her hand on saidmug 10, inserting the hand onto and into the hand-configured depression16, the fingers and into thumb and finger portions 18, 20 of said mug10. The user can then hold the mug 10 for use in drinking, reducingfrequency and likelihood that the mug will drop out of the users hand.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that numerous modifications andchanges may be made to the preferred embodiment without departing fromthe scope of the claimed invention. It will, of course, be understoodthat modifications of the invention, in its various aspects, will beapparent to those skilled in the art, some being apparent only afterstudy, others being matters of routine mechanical, chemical andelectronic design. No single feature, function or property of thepreferred embodiment is essential. Other embodiments are possible, theirspecific designs depending upon the particular application. As such, thescope of the invention should not be limited by the particularembodiments herein described but should be defined only by the appendedclaims and equivalents thereof.

1. An inset grip-configured, drop-reducing, drinking apparatus,comprising: a mug having an exterior surface and interior surface; ahand-configured depression in said mug, said depression includingextension for fingers and thumb portions into interior of said mug,fitting the palm and fingers of the user; and wherein the exteriorsurface of said mug covers the finger and thumb portions of saidhand-configured depression.
 2. An inset grip-configured drop-reducingdrinking apparatus, comprising a mug impressed with a hand-configureddepression contoured to substantially match the natural gripping shapeof a hand.
 3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein a user's hand ispartially enclosed within the sidewall of a mug when gripping the mug.4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein said partial enclosure constitutespockets for receiving the fingers and thumb of a user, said pocketsextending into the interior space of the mug.
 5. A mug having bottom andsurrounding sidewalls, defining an interior volume, first and secondopposing pockets formed through the sidewall and extending into theinterior volume, said first pocket shaped for a thumb and said secondpocket shaped for four fingers.